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This Thanksgiving, your post-meal fireside lounging can be so much lovelier with a clean-burning, planet-loving alternative to wood and Duraflame. Made from used coffee grounds collected from coffeehouses across the country (along with some soybean-based wax), the Java-Log “burns better than wood, doesn’t have that chemical smell that most fake firelogs have, and is good for the environment,” says ThisNexter oO. What’s more, “the production of Java-Log keeps about 4 million tons of coffee grounds from landfills every year, saves trees, and produces less air pollution than burning fire wood.”

Kyle at Sitting Awhile recently tossed a Java-Log into the fireplace and informs us that “for a bunch of old coffee this thing burned for a good two hours,” adding that “you could put your face straight in the smoke and not come up coughing like a pack-a-day smoker.”

No word yet on whether the Java-Log fills your home with the scent of dark roast.

Is it strange to become quite smitten with your cleaning products? Because I’ve seriously fallen for the entire Seventh Generation line after using its green cleaners to replace all my conventional household products over the last year. The sprays and detergents and so on are made with renewable, nontoxic, phosphate-free and biodegradable ingredients that work just as effectively as the harsher, potentially health-hazardous chemicals you’ll find on supermarket shelves. The eco-conscious company also works to protect the planet, having conserved 327,800 trees, 233,000 pound of greenhouse gases, 1,313,700 gallons of petroleum, and 123,642,500 gallons of water over the last decade (and I do believe that alone is enough to justify my 7th Gen love).

And it appears as though that love must be shared, as Seventh Generation seems to be among ThisNext’s most popular green household staples. “This is a great earth-friendly spray formulated to clean shower, bath, and sink surfaces with soap residue,” says Norene’s 5 percent of Seventh’s Generation’s Natural Citrus Shower Cleaner. “Made without petroleum based solvents, glycol ethers, phosphates, acids, caustics, dyes, chlorine, and perfumes,” says our shopcaster, the “gentle ingredients and no harsh fumes make using this product a pleasure.” Norene also uses the brand’s Natural Mint Toilet Bowl Cleaner, a product that’s “biodegradable, cruelty free, safe for septic systems, and contains no chlorine, petroleum based cleaners, phosphates, or harsh chemicals.”

...continued: Generation Next

For me, the design buck seems to stop at the bathroom. While I’m well aware that Kerastase on display does not a décor make – it isn’t too often that I try to add a little flair to one of the busiest rooms in the house.

And maybe this is all because I’m secretly holding out for my dream bathroom by dream-boat Jamie Hayon…

Bathroom fabulosity is not, however a problem with ThisNexters, who continue to recommend a myriad of products both fun and functional.

Perhaps the most decadent item in the “bathroom” tag is HGTV’s host of Bad Bad Bath Krista Watterworth’s pick of the Electric Mirror Vibe TV.

...continued: Go To The Bathroom

Fish Out Of Water is one incredibly busy lady. “In the past five and a half years my life has gone from somewhat dull to completely full and exhausting (but in a good way),” she tells us. “I got married in 1999, bought a house in 2000, bought three rental properties in 2002, and had a baby girl and started grad school in 2003, all the while being employed full-time. Somehow I turned into someone who is always doing a million things all the time. I often feel like a 12-year-old running around in adult’s body trying to “play house” and wondering whether I’m succeeding. (I just turned 30 in March — I guess I better figure out how to be a grown-up now.)” One of the ways Fish manages to keep moving is by getting and staying organized, and she does that with FlyLady.com, this remarkably effective site that takes you through a step-by-step plan to remove the clutter from your house and your life. The program includes daily “FlyMails”, calendars, recipes and household hints…and The Fish swears by it. “This site has saved my household! Still a long way to go, but now I have some support and some instructions on how to do it! Amazing.” That’s what we thought…

A decluttered home = a decluttered mind (well, sometimes anyway). Via The Happiness Project (a blog about soon-to-be memoir author Gretchen Rubin’s effort to test “every principle, tip, theory, and scientific study I can find, whether from Aristotle or St. Therese or Martin Seligman or Oprah” on how to be happy), we’ve discovered what Gretchen identifies as the 27 most important rules for keeping your house in order. A few we might actually manage to pull off:

- never buy “souvenirs”

- get rid of newspapers and magazines as soon as possible. Never keep a newspaper overnight, and never keep a magazine for more than two months

- storing a thing means you don’t need to use it. So before you squirrel something away, ask yourself, “Do I really need to keep this?”

- for extra credit, put a date on the box, and if you haven’t opened it in a year, throw it away.

What if you lived in a planned community where hiking trails, spas, gyms, and a team of nutritionists, personal trainers, and other health professionals were readily available nearly 24/7? At wellness blog The Oasis, Ellen Britt writes about “wellness communities” where keeping healthy is a neighborhood endeavor - and the rents are sky-high.

For the modestly salaried among us who still want to live well, Ellen offers some suggestions on creating your own at-home wellness center. A few of our favorites:

“Set aside a mini-spa day for yourself at home. Be sure to plan for one and a half to two hours when you won’t be interrupted. Be creative and formulate your own routine. Put on some relaxing music. Add your favorite bath salts to a hot tub of water and soak your cares away. Take time to really relax. Slather on a moisturizing lotion after you get out. You get the idea!”

“Sign up for a new body class. Make a commitment to explore yoga, Pilates or even a martial art.”

“Take some time each day to quiet your mind, either by meditation or just listening to beautiful music.”

It’s a boat! It’s a vampire castle! It’s a Roman Temple garden shed!

Think your house (or maybe your neighbor’s) is weird? Chances are the addictive photoblog Offbeat Homes has scoped it out, and then some.

We love blogs with a specific un-flinching purpose; so day after day of the strangest abodes you ever did see is candy for our ThisNext eyes. 

Though there seems to be some disagreement as to whether or not this home is in fact the world’s most expensive abode - there is no arguing that for a cool $120+ million you can purchase yourself 58 acres and 103 rooms, plus a bowling alley, private cinema and a heated marble driveway for those chilly English mornings when you wave to Sir Elton John while collecting the newspaper.

via Born Rich 

 

The home improvement blog Home Improvement Ideas is full of practical ideas on how to improve ones home by shopcasting interesting products, information and how-to’s for apartment and home-owners alike.  Home Improvement Ideas also likes to provide conscise, mindful lists full of practical ways to improve your home, like
- 10 low-cost ways to keep your home safe
- 5 tips on how to save water (and money)
- 7 ways to save energy 

 

She may say The Chaotic Home is the “musings of a tired mom trying to bring peace to her chatic home”…but what she realy is, is an inveterate and insightful Maker of Lists…and that’s what ThisNext is always looking for.  You learn a great deal (and it’s great fun) about her household, her kids, and her life…as well as get lists of the best things she’s read, watched, bought, done, and seen quite recently…including her recent addiction to Lego Star Wars for the Xbox,  her love for monkey socks (see left), her completion of recent books by Koontz, Grisham, and Bushnell, and and awesome and ever-changing blogroll.  I don’t think the woman has a clue as to how interesting she really is, but it’s great to watch.

Damn that lousy work, always getting in the way of important things — like making dinner. Too often we end up picking up some subpar grub on the way home from work simply because we don’t have the time to think about dinner, much less buying the ingredients and cooking them. That’s why we are so in love with The Six O’Clock Scramble. When you subscribe to the site, you receive five quick and easy dinner menus, as well as a complete grocery list for the week. Most meals take less than 30 minutes to prepare, so you can hit the ground the minute you get home. ThisNext recognizes there’s no substitute for home-cooked meals, so any way to make them easier to accomplish is manna from heaven as far as we’re concerned. (via Chef Michele’s Adventures)